Reviews by Pegasus:

Appearance: Opaque amber body, surmounted by a small, dense off-white head., which quickly fades The lacing is thick and unbroken.

Aroma: Lots of dark fruit, bourbon, burnt caramel, sugar, molasses, and earth. It really is as complex as that.

Taste: Opens with molasses, brown sugar, soon afterward, sweet alcohol, then dark fruits. Midway through the taste, there are a profusion of spices: cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg. Dark fruits are also a dominating presence, particularly plums and raisins. Throughout the taste, there is a strong presence of whiskey flavors, as if the beer had been fermented in bourbon barrels. The ABV of this beer (10.00%) makes itself known with an strong undercurrent of sweet, vinous alcohol. The taste draws to a close with a lingering , sweet whiskey note and a strong licorice presence.

Mouth feel: Smooth, soft and velvety. Simply superb.

Drinkability/notes: An over-the-top example in terms of quality.

Presentation: Packaged in a twenty-five point four ounce Belgian-style brown glass bomber with a cork and cage, served in a New Belgium Brewing chalice.

More User Reviews:

Appearance - Deep, rich reddish-brown in color with a rather smallish head that dissipated quickly.

Smell - This one is a boat load of dark flavors. Tobacco, plums, and licorice come to mind at first. There's also some overripe apples rolled in cinnamon. All of this is laced with big alcohol notes and a small yeast base.

Taste - The licorice leads the way here, trumping the sweet fruity notes and making the yeast difficult to detect. The alcohol is big as well. Belgian Sambucca?

After about 30 minutes, once the ale warms, the dark malt and yeast come out of hiding just enough to fit the style. The alcohol though is still quite noticeable, even after developing a bit of a buzz.

Mouthfeel - A hefty medium in the body and a bit on the dry side.

Drinkability - This one is a real sipper. You have to be a big fan of exotic ales to enjoy this one. It is like nothing that I've ever had before and markedly different even from the other Gouden's that I've popped. Don't leave this one under a novice's Christmas tree, but with a 4+ average and only 22 reviews a BA Buddy might really appreciate it.

I also highly recommend drinking the bulk of this bottle after it warms to almost room temperature. Anything much colder than that and you'll miss out on the modest yeast flavors.

Comments - My 2003 vintage was at 10.0 not the 10.5 listed on the site. Also, the bottle says that this will age well, and I think that it would indeed improve from a year of cellaring.

Update - I cellared a 2005 for three years and popped it open tonight in May 2008 for no real reason. Boy oh boy I was right about the cellaring. This beer is amazing. The Appearance, with its never-ending lacing, was gorgeous and inviting. The Smell is a deep, wicked blend of darkish sweets, rich malts, and light yeast, the Taste is an explosion of huge malt and a plethora of fruits especially dates and raisins, the Mouthfeel is full and lively carbonated, and the Drinkability is non-stop. One of the best Christmas time beers I've ever had.

PS: LOL at my original 2003 comment that only 22 BAs had reviewed it. It's like over 200 now.

Did some of us drink a different brew? I drank this in 2015 from a bottle made in 2015. I poured this beer out into a wheat beer glass and this beer just looks incredible. Nice a head, a dark amber color, and it smells so good. When I smell it I get anise, the sort of anise you would get from a Canoli or a Pizzelle and a bunch of other spices blended together harmoniously. The taste was wonderful. I got a lot of malt up front (trying to remember from memory here) and I remember thinking it had a rootbeer taste to it with added "christmas spices" clove, anise, etc. The beer was not bitter, it was malt forward and it was very pleasant. It had 10% abv which is quite high, so drink with caution, it can't sneak up on you!

Just a delicious brew! I tried another "Christmas Ale" right after I drank this bottle and it didn't compare to this one. It felt watered down to this beer. This brew just delivered imo. I don't know what the beeradvocate "bros" drank, but it must have been years ago with a different recipe at that time. I drank this cold and it was outstanding. Maybe if I let it warm up a bit it would have tasted much different? Usually that happens with beer with many spices, it becomes even more intense. I'd recommend drinking this cold, because I can say without a doubt it tasted wonderful.

750 ml, corked and caged bottle with attractive winter scene art on the label, as shown in the pic. Pours a clear, ruby chestnut body with a thick and creamy tan head that rises to one inch in height in my goblet. Excellent retention and lots of clingly patch lace.
Aroma begins very fruity, with overripe bananas and dark fruits. Prunes, figs, and currants are picked up by the nose. A prominent note of black licorice is a bit distracting.
Mouthfeel begins with a chewy note of black licorice that seems to stick to the roof of my mouth. Medium to full body with effervescent carbonation.
Taste feautures lots of dark fruit esters. Prunes, figs, and currants mirror the aroma. Bitterness is served up by herbal hops and earthy yeast notes. The dominant flavor, as room temperature is reached, is chewy black licorice and spicy anise. Some clove and cinnamon are also noted. The 10.5 % abv is also noticed, and could have been better concealed.
Overall, a pretty fine winter sipping Belgian strong dark ale, but the black licorice/anise component is somewhat overdone.

Dark cloudy brown with some white head. Great aroma of choclate and spice, vanilla, and citrus orange. Very smooth mouthfeel, and while all of the tastes do not materialize boldy, it is very tasty and refreshing.A great brewery.
thanks for bringing in IPFreely.

Upon the pour, the beer revealed a deep brown, solid ruby hue, with a mild murky translucency. The head retention was uncanny, with a great ability to lace.

Aromas are big, plump character of malt, berries, fruit, earthyness, and mustiness. Flavors are sweetly malty, toasty, tart, sweet, fruity (plumbs, dates, figs, grapes...) woody, nutty....I could go on for hours. The beer just has a tremendous amount of complexity and well balanced to boot.

The texture is a soothing, alcoholiclly thinned, mildly tart, rich, mouth filling roundness. Finishes with a balanced dryness and sweetness and a lingering grape, malt flavor.

This one is certainly a classic. Possibly even better than the Kaiser.

It's a great beer with a good complexity with the dark fruits, the spices, the toffee and the warming alcohol. It's very smooth and not boozy even if it warms you good. The only problem is the presence of the anise which is a bit strong for me

On tap at the Oak Cafe. Pours a deep, deep murky brown color, ruby hints here and there; off-white, almost beige head that reduced fairly quickly. Little bits of lacing here and there, but not much, especially by the end of the pint.

The aroma of this beer, simply put, is unlike anything. It's a collaboration of so much shit packed all into one, but yet it works so well together and the parts compliment the whole, rather than destroy it. Sweet malt, faint chocolate, dark fruits; prunes, raisins, plums, raspberries, toffee, caramel, spices; nutmeg, anise, ginger. Then you lift your nose away from the glass and say, "what the F is this going to taste like?" Hopefully as good as it smells.

The taste is even more complex than the aroma - lots of spice and sweetness, front to back, side to side, a complete malt explosion. Deep sweet fruits; overripe sugar-coated plums, dates, boozy raisins, cranberries, toffee, brown sugar, nutmeg, coriander, light cinnamon, anise, earthy esters.... What. The. Hell. Slightly boozy, bourbon and whiskey notes all around, but it works well with the sweetness. Earthy and sweet through and through, virtually no hop or floral flavors. Silky and smooth on the palate, medium-thick body, slightly sticky, medium carbonation.

This beer is incredibly unique and it's hard to say I've had anything quite like it before. TONS of flavors in the aroma and on the palate, I'm sure I missed a ton of stuff even. Super complex and ever-evolving, this one gets even better as it reaches 60 F. Certainly a treat, might be too powerful to have more than one, but that one should be savored and handled delicately.

A: The beer is a dark copper with excellent clarity. The light tan head is rocky with decent retention and leaving moderate lacing on the glass.

S: Moderate raisins and red cherry esters with a some alcohol sweetness and very light molasses are the first smells to greet you. There is a light aroma of dark malts and some prunes as well. No hops a light diacetyl. There are very light spicy phenols.

T: A mix of dark cherry fruitiness, caramel malt sweetness and alcohol dominate the flavor at moderate levels. There is a moderately-low hops bitterness and no perceived hops flavor. The spiciness is far more pronounced in the flavor than the aroma coming to dominating in the finish with the alcohol and some slight bitterness. The balance is fruity and spicy with a slight tilt towards the bitterness while having a dry finish.

M: A medium-light body with moderately-high carbonation and a light slickness that makes it feel a bit heavier on the palate. There is a substantial amount of heat with out being hot and some creaminess.

O: This is a dark complex beer that doesn't hide the booze but certainly makes it go down some. While not my favorite style this one hits most of the style points but manages to be a bit of a mess for my taste with a syrupy fruit start and a fairly dry finish.

Brouwerij Het Anker is supposedly one of the oldest working breweries in Belgium, dating back to the 1300s. Back in 2002, they started brewing Gouden Carlolus Noël after a 38-year hiatus. This dark Winter Ale is brewed with three different hops and six different herbs and spices.

Creamy-looking small-bubbled lace retains well, and the dark brown color displays a glowing clarity. Heavy aroma of dark malts, black pepper, bitter orange peel, earth, faint vanilla, black currants, lavender, a hint of fusel alcohol and other vague spice tones. Smooth and creamy mouth feel off of a full body. Beefy, with a juicy caramel malt splash up front. An alcoholic bite thrashes the taste buds. Spicy, with suggestions of white pepper. The fruity, alcoholic esters drop a tropical bomb. Kiwi, pineapple and papaya come to mind. This has hot fermentation written all over it. Unfortunately, the &#64257; nish and aftertaste is dominated by this hard, lingering alcohol character, and it does not get better as the beer warms up. A mess.

A 750ml bottle. Medium brown color, thin head, well-carbonated. It had a fruity and spicy aroma. A dark fruit taste, with warming spices. Pleasant enough, but I wouldn't want a lot in one sitting. I'm not sure the fruit and spice combination works that well for me, but at the same time it does seem a little different from the typical Christmas beers.

The beer pours a dark brown color with a large tan head. The first aroma is nothing but licorice, which is not a smell I really enjoy. As the beer airs out a bit, I get some prunes, cherries and Belgian yeast notes.

The flavor is also very heavy on the licorice. I also get a little roasted malt, caramel malt, cherries, prunes, yeast, brown sugar and some alcohol. Overall, the licorice is dominant.